Louisiana Attorney General – We Must Address Mental Health Issues Now

It's one of the most misunderstood illnesses in our medical profession. It's what goes on when the mind of an individual gets out of sync with what is normal according to society's standards. Mental Illness takes on many different forms. Unfortunately many of those forms are stigmatized by society in such a way that those who suffer choose to suffer in silence as opposed to getting help.

In the wake of the Grand 16 Theater shootings Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is asking for help in assembling a team of health care professionals that can best identify those individuals who might be deemed violent or unstable. That information could then be communicated to law enforcement agencies.

We have to find some solutions and we also want to use technology to our advantage, I mean you can’t go in a theater, in a church or in a school safely anymore and these are all safe havens.

Two people were shot and killed and several others injured when a man with a history of mental illness open fire in a movie theater in Lafayette on Thursday night. Caldwell believes that there are warning signs and clues authorities can utilized to identify those that might have tendencies to harm others or themselves.

Use our number one resource and that’s to look to our prison system where we’ve had a lot of success in treating mental illness and see what we can learn.

It is estimated that nearly one in four Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness issue. Not all of those issues lead to violent behavior. Most mental illness can be treated by medication and counseling.